Belize?

[Ron]

Anna and I are thinking about going to Belize this year for our vacation. Has anyone been there? Is the blue hole cool? Did you like the vacation?

[uwstlth]

Anna and I are thinking about going to Belize this year for our vacation. Has anyone been there? Is the blue hole cool? Did you like the vacation?

It has some good diving but the Blue Hole is a tourist trap. All day excursion for a dive where you won't see much and your DT and depth will be limited. I wouldn't waste the time or money on it unless you are chartering a boat and are on trimix or rebreather - or both. We stayed at Blackbird ( http://www.blackbirdresort.com/ ) years ago and had a good time.

But, if you are looking to go to that region, I'd go south just a bit and dive Roatan instead. Anthony's Key Resort ( http://www.anthonyskey.com/ )has always been good. Get a air conditioned cabin on the Caye (key). They run deals all the time so visit their website if you are interested.

[antique diver]

We had been lucky enough to make several trips during the 1980's on small locally owned live-aboard charter boats, where they allowed us the freedom to dive the Blue Hole and many other spectacular places without the usual tourist diver restrictions of today. It is truly a spectacular dive if you get to the right area where the wall is deeply undercut, and the stalagtites are huge and numerous. I don't recall the exact compass direction within the circle, but I'll check my log books and see if I referenced that. We made deco dives on air, and did the deco on the shallow corals around the rim.

To get the best effect you need to be 150 to 160'+, looking out at the silhouetted formations from the cavernous area. We even found the stub of the one that had been cut off by Cousteau many years ago, and hoisted up to the Calypso in the name of "Science".

Some people seem to have forgotten that, and also that they dynamited the reef to get the Calypso into the Blue Hole for that famous photo of it floating in the middle of the hole. The Belizeans haven't forgotten, and some seem to hold a grudge about the destruction of their natural resources.

I wish that I could tell you someone that would still take you on these types of dives! Those were good days for us!!! We made camp-on-the-deck "live-aboard" trips on the 36' Lucretia, owned by Victor Barothy for some the best and wildest diving available in Belize. Also good trips on 52' Irwin sailboats out of Sail Belize. Another early live-aboard we used was the La Strega, made popular mainly by the gregarious and popular Hugh Parkey, in spite of its perpetual shortage of fresh water and other minor (by 80's standards) shortcomings.

Belize has much more to offer in great reef diving and good inland stuff at the Mayan Ruins, river caves and beautiful cool mountain areas. Good place for a week of diving plus good inland tours. I think a good live-aboard will give you the best diving to remote areas and more dives per day. Unfortunately these days you will probably get a no-deco dive to 130' max in the Blue Hole.

[Ron]

I'm not really butt hurt if we dive the regular tourist thing. I mainly want to hang out with Anna, drink, kayak the jungle, See the ruins, etc. I've done enough crazy dives that I don't care if I end up doing regular ones too. I will see if I can find a charter where we can dive a little deeper, but if not we will still have fun. Thanks for helping me out Bill!

[antique diver]

That's a good attitude... You and Anna can have a lot of fun in Belize.
You might have a lot of fun on Abergris Cay where there are nice resorts and fun places to hang out, plus a multitude of dive operations. I hesitate to make any specific recommendations since we haven't been there since mid 90's.

[USdiver]

Ron,

I used to dive Southern Belize regularly when I lived in Honduras in the mid to late 1980s. I concentrated my diving from the Sapodilla Cays north to Ranguana Cay. In a word, it was primitive but 100% excellent Caribbean diving. Great viz, sea turtles on most dives, lots of pelagics, the occasional tiger shark and corals, lots and lots of corals.

I recommend Belize, you and Anna can have a great time. About the only caveat is to avoid hurricane season, especially September - October.

George

[Ron]

Thanks as well to you Georga. Anna and I are going to give it a go.

[antique diver]

Ron, I made a Belize video including diving and some inland excursions back in the mid 80's for Dive/Sail Belize to promote their trips. It's about 20 or 25 minutes. If the old master tape hasn't turned to gunk I can try to make a DVD from it. PM or email me with a mailing address if you would like a copy.

[Ron]

PM inbound.